Printing or reproducing apparatus.



PATENT-ED APR. 23, 1907'.

w. e. FUERTH. PRINTING 0B REPRGDUOING APPARATUS.

APPLIUATION FILED JAN. 5. 1906.'

INVENTOR, gay-111mm .EIEYU'\,

WITNESSES:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM G. FUERTH, OF NEWAR IT, NEWEJERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO EQUI- LIBRATOR COMPANY, A CORPORATION ,QOF NEW JERSEY.

I PRINTING OR REPRODUCINGEAPPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

, Patented April 23, 1907.

Application filed January 5, 1906. Serial No. 294,696.

To all whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM G. FUERTH, a citizen of the United States, residing at N ewark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Printing or Reproducing Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which from a part of this specification.

My present invention has reference, generally, to improvements'in that class of devices or apparatus which are used for the purposes of printing or re-producing fac-simile duplications of autographic, as well as type-Written matter, from paper stencils which are arranged upon an inking roll, the paper upon which the matter is to be reproduced being fed between this inking roll and a presser-roll, or other contacting means in engagement with the face of. the stencilsheet; and, the invention has for its principal object to provide a novel and simply constructed means for variously changing the starting position of the inking and stencilpaper carrying roll with relation to the normally vertical position of its actuating crank or handle, all for the purpose of the proper registration of the entrance of the paper between the rolls, prior to printing, so that the matter which is to be reproduced upon the face of the sheet of paper will be located and start the required distance from the top or upper edge of the paper.

Other objects of this invention not at this time more particularly mentioned will be clearly understood from the following detailed description of the said invention.

With these objects of my present invention in view, the said invention consists, primarily, in the novel means for the registration of the paper in a printing or duplicating apparatus; and, the invention consists, furthermore, in the various novel arrangements and combinations of parts, as well as in the details of the construction of the same, all of which will be hereinafter more fully described and then finally embodied in the clauses of the claim, which are appended to and which form an essential part of this specification.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a top or plan view of a printing or reproducing apparatus provided with a paper-registration means embodying the principles of my present invention; and Figs. 2 and 3 are end views of the same end of the said printing or re-producing apparatus, said two views showing the printing and stencil-carrying roll normally held at rest in two of its variously adjusted positions. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the one end of the apparatus, with the said printing and stencilcarrying roll omitted from said view, and showing also in horizontal section one of the end-supporting standards of the machine and the roll-operating crank, the latter being shown in its holding engagement with the registration device on said standard; and Fig. 5 is a detail vertical section of the one end of the apparatus which is provided with said registration device, said section being taken on line 55 in said Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. t of the same parts of the apparatus, but illustrating a slightly modified means of printing or stencil-sheet carrying roll and crank-registration.

Similar characters of reference are employed in all of the said above described views, to indicate corresponding parts."

Referring now to the said drawings, the reference-character 1 indicates the complete printing or duplicating apparatus, the same comprising a suitably disposed inking or stencil sheet carrying roll 2 and a presser roll 3, mounted in an equilibratin pressure device 4, preferably of the genera f arrangement and construction of the device shown in my previous application for Letters Patent filed December 28rd, 1905, SerialNo. 293,053, and 5 is an ink-mat and 6 the usual stencil-sheet, the said ink-mat and stencil-sheet being operatively secured upon the cylindricalsurface of the said roll 2 preferably by means of the spring-clamping devices and latch bar or plate, generally indicated by reference-character 7 in Figs. 3 and 5 of the present drawings, and shown and described in my former application for Letters Patent, filed, December 23rd, 1905, Serial No. 293,053.

Suitably secured upon a suitable plate or base 8 are a pair of end-standards or supports 9 and 10, one of which, as 9, is provided with a laterally extending projection 11 having a curved or arc-shaped edge 12, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 4 of the drawings, the said projection 11 being provided in the cen tral part of said edge 12, and in vertical alinement with the central axes of the rolls 2 and 3, with a suitable recess or stud-receiving portion 13. Each support or standard 9 and is provided with an upwardly extending post 14, see more especially Figs. 4, 5 and 6 of the drawings, in the .upper end-portion of each of which is a suitable bearing-portion 15, carrying a sleeve 16 having an annular shoulder 17 arranged against the back of the post 14, substantially as shown in Figs. 1 and 5. At its respective ends, the said roll 2 is provided with the arms 18, each arm being made with a hub 19 having a screw-threaded socket 20, a stud or pin 21, provided with a head 22 and screw-portion 23, being rotatively arranged in each sleeve 16 and having its screw-portion 23 screwed into the screwthreaded socket in the respective hubs 19, in the manner clearly illustrated in Fig. 5 of the drawings. Suitably arranged upon one of said studs or pins 21, as for instance the one connected to the support or standard 9, and located between the head 22 and the end of the sleeve 16 is the eye-portion 25 of a lever 24. The said lever 24 is provided with a handle or finger-piece 26 and upon the back of its lower portion it is provided. with a stud or projection 27 which is adapted to ride against and upon the curved edge 12 of the projection 11 and registers with the said recess or receiving portion 13, substantially in the manner shown, and for the purposes to be presently more fully specified. The said lever 24 being made from suitable springmetal, it will be evident, that the said stud or projection 27 will readily ride upon the curved edge 12 of the projection 11, and with each complete revolution of the said drum or roll 2 will spring with a snap into said recess 01' receiving portion 13, and thereby retain or hold the roll 2 in its normal immovable relation, being the initial position for the reception of the upper edge of the paper prior to producing the next complete turn of the roll 2 by means of the handle 26 and lever 27. The said lever is held in its tight position by firmly screwing up the stud or pin 21, and that the parts will not become loose, during many rotations of the roll or drum 2, the said screx thread 23 upon the pin 21 is preferably a left hand screwthread, with the socket 20 in the hub 19 correspondingly screw-threaded. Usually the normal initial relation of the crank 24 to the vertical plane through the central axis of the drum or roll 2 is that shown in Figs. 2 and 5 of the drawings, that is, when the latch-plate and clamping parts 8 are at the bottom but, when it is desired to change this relation of the parts, for the purpose of for a short period of time feeding the paper between the rolls 2 and 3, before the latch-plate-mechanism and the printing or re-producing portion of the stencil sheet 6 is brought in its operative engagement with the paper, substantially as indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawings, then by means of said head 22 or a short rod or lever 28 connected therewith, the pin or stud 21 is slightly unscrewed, so as to provide a loose connection of the eye-portion of the lever 24 upon the pin 21, and then by hand, turning the drum or roll 2 the. desired distance, allowing the lever 24 to hang vertically, the parts are brought into their changed and adjusted relation, as will be clearly evident. By again tightening the said head 22, the lever 24 is once more fixed in its rigid and operative relation to the drum or roll 2, substantially in the positions shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. By this means, the parts can be brought into variously changed and adjusted relations, as will be clearly understood, according to the points or distancefrom the top edge of the paper upon which it is intended to reproduce the facsimile or typewritten matter. 7

The handle 26 is fixed directly upon the spring, so that the latter may be readily flexed by a simple outward pull on the handie in a direction longitudinal of the cylinder 2, thus easily withdrawing the tooth 27 from the notch 13, or easily holding the tooth away from the fixed lug or device 11 while idly rotating the cylinder during the preliminary inking up operation, or while adjusting the stencil-sheet on the cylinder, etc.

In some cases, in place of the registering device heretofore described, the arrangement shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings may be used. In this construction, the standard or support 9 is provided with a short projection 29 having a curved edge 30, formed with an off-set 31. The lever 24 is this case may be made without the stud or projection 27, the said lever readily moving along the curved edge 30 of the projection 29, and at the proper time springing with a click behind the said ofl-set 31, thereby indicating to the operator that a complete revolution of the drum or roll 2 has been made. At the same time the said off-set 31 acts as a positive stop to prevent the drum or roll being turned ina backwardand wrong direction, at the beginning of each new revolution for the reproduction of the autographic or typewritten matter upon the next sheet of paper.

In Figs. 6 and 4 it will be seen that the cylinder is positively locked against accidental backward rotation, thus insuring not only that the sheet will be picked up by the stencil cylinder and roll when the former is rotated forwardly, but also that the stenciled matter shall always fall upon the sheet at the exact the sheets.

place desired. The tooth or ates with the stop 31 at Fig. 6, or with that side of the notch 13 at Fig. 4 which corresponds in position with stop 31, to enable the stencil cylinder and roll to co-operate successfully to form a gage for the leading edges of In operation, a sheet is inserted as far as it will go between the cylinder and the roll 3, and then by means of the handle 26 the cylinder is given a single complete revolution, whereupon another sheet is inserted and the operation repeated. When the sheet is and roll, it is not securely held by them, but the stop 31 (or the corresponding side of notch 13, which side constitutes an abrupt stop for this purpose) locks the arm 24 so that the cylinder cannot accidentally be rotated backward, which would discharge the leading edge of the sheet from the bite of the cylinder and roll. It will be seen that the stops co-operate to prevent not only a turn of the cylinder in the Wrong direction, but also to prevent the cylinder from being affected by the slight backward pressure that is often exerted by the operator in merely grasping the handle 26, which while almost imperceptible, would often discharge the sheet from the cylinder and roll, and still more often cause the stenciled matter to be printed in an erroneous position on the sheet. The handle 26 may be drawn to the right at Figs. 4 and 6, to release the stop 27 from the framework stop. At Fig. 6 the spring-stop consists of a portion of the arm 24 itself. At Fig. 4 it will be understood that when the yielding stop 27 is released from the notch, the cylinder can be rotated either forwardly or backwardly.

I claim stop 27 co-oper- 1. In a stenciling machine having a stencil cylinder and a pressure roll, the combination with a stop adjustable circumferentially of the cylinder, of a stop co-operating with said stop both to enable the cylinder and roll to cooperate to form a gage for the leading edges of the sheets and to lock the cylinder positively against backward rotation from the position in which it stands when the sheet is introduced; one of said stops having aspring to permit it to yield to permit forward movement of the cylinder, and also having a fingerpiece whereby it may be released from the other stop.

2. In a stenciling machine having a stencil cylinder and a pressure roll, the combination of an arm connected to the cylinder to permit rotative adjustment between the cylinder and the arm, a stop upon said arm, a stop upon the framework co-operating with said arm stop both to enable the cylinder and roll to co-operate to form a gage for the leading edges of the sheets and also to lock the cylinder positively against backward rotation from the position in which it stands when the sheet is introduced said arm stop introduced between the cylinder yieldingly supported upon said arm; and a ger-piece connected to said arm stop both to release the same from the framework stop and also to rotate said cylinder.

3. In a stenciling machine having a stencil cylinder and a pressure roll, the combination with a spring-stop fixed to the cylinder to rotate therewith and mounted to yield in a direction longitudinal of the cylinder, of a fixed device in the path of said stop to spring the latter out of its normal position, and having a notch into which said stop springs to locate the cylinder in position to receive a fresh sheet; said stop provided with a handle whereby the cylinder may be rotated and whereby the stop may be sprung away from said fixed device during the rotation of the cylinder.

4. In a stenciling machine having a stencil cylinder and a pressure roll, the combination with an arm provided with a handle to rotate the cylinder, and also having a stop yieldable in a direction longitudinal of the cylinder, of a fixed inclined device in the path of the stop to spring the latter out of its normal position, and having a notch into which said stop springs and whereby the arm is held against rotation in either direction, and means rigidly securing said arm to said cylinder, said securing means being releasable sufliciently to permit the cylinder to be rotatively adjustedwhile said arm is held stationary by reason of the engagement of said stop with said notch.

5. In a stenciling machine having a stencil cylinder and a pressure roll, the combination with an arm in the form of a spring and provided with a handle and a stop, of a fixed device in the path of the stop to spring the latter out of its normal position, and having a notch into which said stop springs to locate the cylinder for the insertion of a fresh sheet into the machine.

6. In a stenciling machine having a stencil cylinder and a pressure roll, the combination with a stop adjustable circumferentially of the cylinder, of a stop co-operating with said stop both to enable the cylinder and roll to co-operate to form a gage for the leading edges of the sheets and to lock the cylinder positively against backward rotation from the position in which it stands when the sheet is introduced; one of said stops having a spring to permit it to yield to permit forward movement of the cylinder, and also having a finger-piece whereby it may be released from the other stop, and means rigidly securing said arm to said cylinder, but releasable to permit rotative adjustment of the cylinder while the arm is detained by reason of the engagement of the stop with the notch.

7. In a stenciling machine having a stencil cylinder and a pressure roll, the combination with a spring-stop fixed to the cylinder to rotate therewith and mounted to yield in a di- IIO rection longitudinal of the cylinder, of a fixed device in the path of said stop to spring the latter out of its normal position, and having a notch into which said stop springs, said notch having an abrupt face to hold the cylinder from turning back and enable it to cooperate with the roll to form a gage for the leading edge of the sheets; said stop provided with a handle whereby the cylinder may be rotated and whereby the stop may be sprung TO away from said fixed device. 1

In testimony, that I claim the invention I set forth above I have hereunto set my hand this 3d day of January, 1906.

WILLIAM G. FUERTH. Witnesses:

FREDK. C. FRAENTZEL, GEO. D. RICHARDS. 

